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9

Synopsis

When our world ended their mission began.

When 9 first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good.

The reason why I love animated films is that they can transport you to any world imaginable and there is no limit to what can be brought to the screen. Many people I know underestimate animation as purely children's entertainment but when its done right it can be something truly special. Sadly however '9' isn't the revelation its promising opening and concept suggested it might have been.

The animation is simply superb and the backdrop of a desolate abandoned wasteland was for me instantly intriguing. I found the murky environment and overall bleak tone to be profoundly refreshing in the sea of sugar-coated animation films we are bombarded with. What lets this one down however is its meandering plot and…

Beginning life as a short animated feature, so admired by Tim Burton that he offered to co-produce, with Timur Bekhambetov, a full length work, Shane Acker's 9 (not to be confused with Rob Marshall's musical number released the same year) is very much an example of how not everything that starts small should be rendered on a bigger canvas. It took him half a decade to create the original short, revolving around the eponymous 9, a humunculus-type doll imbued with part of a human soul in a post-apocalyptic world, and you can tell he put a great deal of time, effort and love into the full picture that desperately tries to convey how much heart it has behind the admittedly…

When watching films together, me and my girlfriend tend to swap between who chooses what film to watch and often this means when it is her turn to choose, I will end up watching films that I often wouldn't bother with. 9 is one of those films and to be honest, I'm pretty sure the only reason this was selected was because Elijah Wood voiced the titular rag-doll.

In regards to the film, it's animation is nice to look at but as a whole, the film lacks. It lacks in character, general excitement and is very generic despite having a nice little package of potential. The characters are all formulaic and very cliche whereas the plot has been done to…

Truly gorgeous animation with some superb design work on all aspects of the world sadly let down by a linear story and some of the least interested sounding voice work I've seen in a while in an animated film.

9 is not one of these. The thing is it had potential to be something truly awesome, but it isn't. The animation is great, but the characters and story leaves something to wish for. I personally feel like people should try harder because this is the kind of stuff I love to see.

Nevertheless the animation and visuals are great and it deserves a pretty solid 4 stars.

A guilty pleasure of mine, 9 is a visually stunning animated movie from the minds of Shane Acker and Tim Burton. While a bit light on plot and dialogue, the movie more than makes up for it in the creepy creature designs and overall atmosphere. It's by no means a perfect film, but features plenty of memorable images (its eerie third act use of Somewhere Over The Rainbow a standout). The characters are rather one note, but there's a purpose to this. I only wish it was a bit longer, so as to flesh things out a bit more, but it gives the film, much like the characters within, a sense of urgency that never stops until the final frame.

The premise sounds really really good, but in execution turns out this is just an ordinary animation. The big ideas behind the movie is implied but never discussed. Such a shame. This has such a good potential.

Is it too soon to say that 9 might just be one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my entire life?

I knew almost nothing about this going in, other than the fact that it's a PG-13 animated movie about 9 sentient ragdolls in a post-apocalyptic world. That alone got me excited based on the limitless amount of possibilities I came up with beforehand. This had the potential to be dark and deeply disturbing, with a great atmosphere and a number of topics to offer commentary on with an interesting cast of characters, but what does 9 do with all of this creative possibility?

This movie was great. I went into it without expectations, and was overwhelmed by the beautiful but haunting imagery. Yes, this is an animated film but it is not for kids. There are some demonic creatures in this movie.

It seems like they had a limited budget for this film, it being a whole 78 minutes, but they did great work with the pacing and made it all work quite well. Fairly classic hero tale but done in an apocalyptic Tim Burton-produced atmosphere.